After four years of planning and $50 million in private gifts and pledges, the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation has initiated a formal dispute resolution process with the City of Sarasota that could end their partnership to develop a new performing arts center.
The foundation’s board of directors announced Tuesday, Oct. 27, that it was invoking a provision of its 2022 public-private partnership agreement after failing to reach terms with the city over proposed amendments concerning donor funds and operation of the facility. The process gives both parties a formal means of addressing their disagreements and could ultimately lead to termination of the agreement.
Under the partnership established in 2022, the city and foundation agreed to work together toward developing a new performing arts center, with the foundation pursuing private philanthropic support for the project. That fundraising effort had generated $50 million in gifts and pledges by this spring, before the organization had even launched its formal capital campaign…